Yesterday morning we were running a little late—but still managed to fix dinner before rushing out the door. It took 30 seconds and we don't know why we didn't think of it sooner. And as we were en route to the office, we realized not only was it saving us time, but it was also saving us space in the kitchen and energy. Whoa.

Yep, this miracle device is none other than a slow cooker (aka, Crock Pot). For a while, we considered it a space hog, just another something we had to squeeze in the cabinets, and not a likely contender for "best small space gadget." But hear us out.

Most slow cooker meals are one-pot meals, which means there's less to get dirty (and less to clean because of it). So if you're low on counter space, as we're soon to be when we move, then slow cooker meals do in fact make sense.

And they happen to be green because of the low-and-slow method. They use a very small amount of energy to cook something all day. According to Planet Green, the slow cooker is one of the most energy-efficient kitchen appliances.

Don't be afraid to use the slow cooker as the weather warms up, either; if it cooks while you're gone all day, you'll be spending less time in a hot kitchen anyway!

Can we just mention one more great and green reason to use this appliance? If yours makes more than you can eat in one meal, then refrigerate or freeze the leftovers like we did (the extra black beans we made yesterday went straight to the freezer for next week's casserole).

Convinced yet that a slow cooker is an excellent small-space and green appliance?